.

Every garden is a work in progress. And for three hundred years, the seasons have rolled around as generations of gardeners have developed and tended the Kew Royal Botanic Garden. If indeed, the garden is a metaphor for the gardener, then Kew is the perfect opportunity to meet the British love and respect for nature.

In addition to being a flower wonderland, Kew is a world-class botanical research center. Its extensive scientific resources are focused on finding solutions to the global challenges of biodiversity loss, food security, poverty, disease, and the changing climate.

Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank Partnership is the largest plant conservation program in the world. The Seed Bank focuses on saving plants faced with extinction and plants that hold the most potential for future benefit. Working with partners across 80 countries, they have successfully banked over 13% of the world’s wild plant species from regions most at risk from the ever-increasing impact of human activities.

Each day, throughout the world, four plant species are at risk of extinction. You can participate in saving them by joining the Kew Adopt a Seed program.

A glorious peony and two magnificent purple irises in full bloom.

Mysterious lavender flowers with lovely yellow hearts.

A peony variety remarkable for it’s pure simplicity.

This Kew glass house is an architectural jewel. As rare flowers and endangered species
come into bloom, they are brought here for visitors to enjoy.

I love these wild haired individuals. I became so enthralled by nature’s unrestrained designs that I forgot to note down botanical names. To feel better about my lax attitude, I tell myself that these flowers do just fine expressing their unique personalities without knowing that we humans have given them names.